因果报应

Pronunciation: yīn guǒ bào yìng Literal meaning: Cause and effect return

Origin & Usage

Cause (因), effect (果), and the returning repayment (报应). The vocabulary is Buddhist and entered Chinese with the translated sutras, bringing with it a moral mechanics quite different from the older Chinese idea of heaven's mandate: consequence here is impersonal, exact, and not necessarily settled within one lifetime. That last part is what the ordinary Chinese use has dropped. Today it usually means simply that what someone did has caught up with them, and it is said with satisfaction more often than with piety.

Examples

English: "His kindness to others eventually came back to benefit him"

Chinese: 他对他人的善意最终回报到了他身上